Wednesday, 1 June 2011

The Second Coming by John Niven

Last month I bombed through Niven’s first, Kill Your Friends (see earlier post for review) so I thought I’d give his latest offering a go.

Fantastic!

Like the first book this is an instant one hit read, it is engaging, outrageous, funny, clever and has some extremely well considered views buried deep in the plot.

Essentially Jesus is sent back to Earth as God is pissed about what we humans have become. Some key points are made clear from the word go - God hates Christians (actually, this is compellingly argued), loves the gay community, and enjoys smoking weed in vast quantities with the angels.

Jesus has to return to Earth to preach the simple and only commandment that matters: BE NICE. In order to reach the biggest audience he winds up on TV show American Pop Star, and it is here where we re-meet the star for the first book the brilliant and vile Steven Stelfox.

I should say that this is not a book for the easily offended; on any level…here is just a tiny sample to give you the gist:

‘Stoned? Wrecked? Blitzed? Totalled? Wasted? Trashed?

No.

Jesus is cunted.’

You see what I mean. Perfect for me, but perhaps you’ll want to steer your parents or children away from this one.